The History of the Fabian SocietyPease, Edward R. (Edward Reynolds)
History
The History of the Fabian Society
Pease, Edward R. (Edward Reynolds)
Fabian Society (Great Britain); Socialism -- Great Britain
In all these years a large number of younger members had come forward,
none of them of quite the same calibre as the Essayists, but many of
them contributing much to the sum total of the Society's influence. Of
these perhaps the most active was Henry W. Macrosty,[33] who sat on the
Executive from 1895 till 1907, when he retired on account of the
pressure of official duties. During and indeed before his period of
office Mr. Macrosty was constantly engaged in research and writing for
the Society. He prepared the Eight Hours Bill which approached nearest
to practicability (Tract 48, "Eight Hours by Law," 1893); in 1898 he
wrote for the Society "State Arbitration and the Living Wage" (Tract
83); in 1899, Tract 88, "The Growth of Monopoly in English Industry"; in
1905 "The Revival of Agriculture, a national policy for Great Britain,"
the last named an extraordinarily farsighted anticipation of the chief
reforms which were advocated with such vigour by the Liberal Party, and
indeed by all parties in the years preceding the great war. In the same
year his "State Control of Trusts" was published as Tract 124. As I have
before explained, a great part of the published work of the Society has
been prepared co-operatively, and in this process Mr. Macrosty always
took an active part. He had a considerable share in drafting the
innumerable documents issued in connection with the education
controversy, and indeed participated in all the activities of the
Executive until his retirement.
Scarcely less active was Joseph F. Oakeshott, who has been already
mentioned in connection with the Fellowship of the New Life. He joined
the Executive when it was first enlarged in 1890, and sat until 1902. A
Somerset House official, like Macrosty, he was strong on statistics, and
for many years he undertook the constant revisions of the figures of
national income, in the various editions of our "Facts for Socialists,"
His "Democratic Budget" (Tract 39) was our first attempt to apply
Socialism to taxation: and his "Humanising of the Poor Law" (Tract 54),
published in 1894, set out the policy which in recent years has been
widely adopted by the better Boards of Guardians.
John W. Martin sat on the Executive from 1894 to 1899, wrote Tract No.
52, "State Education at Home and Abroad" (1894), and did a lot of
valuable lecturing, both here and in America, where he married the
leading exponent of Fabianism and editor of a monthly called "The
American Fabian," and, settling in New York, has since, under the name
of John Martin, played a considerable part in the educational and
progressive politics of his adopted city.
* * * * *
I will conclude this chapter with a short account of some of the
applications of Socialism to particular problems which were studied by
the Society in or about this period of its history.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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